Performers dazzle with their dancing talents and glimmering costumes as the orchestra and stage sets help draw audiences into the opulence of the Victorian era in Portland Ballet’s “Victorian Nutcracker.”
The onstage spectacle is impressive, prompting many families to make this a holiday tradition.
But join us for a different take on the performance this year.
Step backstage for a peek into the frenzied activity that takes place out of sight, courtesy of Edith Cherkis, who has been volunteering for the “Victorian Nutcracker” for about six years.
First, though, we must tell you that “Victorian Nutcracker” is a variation of the traditional “Nutcracker.” n this version, Clara is called Olivia and the story is based on the occupants, friends, setting and era of the Victoria Mansion at 109 Danforth St. in Portland. “Victorian Nutcracker” will be presented at Schaeffer Theatre at Bates College in Lewiston Dec. 17 and 18 and at Merrill Auditorium in Portland Dec. 23.
Cherkis, who lives in Livermore, has difficulty coming up with a title for what she does, opting, instead, to list her various jobs. ” have 83 dancers. am in charge of staffing for makeup for shows, care for younger dancers, sewers, backstage wings, dressers, quick-change dressers and outside events such as the Lewiston tree lighting, copper beech tree lighting and the youth concert.”
Perhaps backstage guru or costume-meister might work for a job title, she suggested.
Cherkis recalled that when one of her volunteers met her, she said, “Oh, that’s what you look like. usually only see a blur of brown hair and sneakers as you go running by.”
” do wear running shoes,” Cherkis said with a laugh, holding up a foot as proof. “And wear my hair in a ponytail backstage.
Minimizing mishaps
When asked what can go wrong, Cherkis said, “Silly things, really. Things like a dancer forgetting to remove jewelry, which is required as it can catch a glimmer of light and distract.”
One of her favorite solutions was finding a way not to get lost in the maze of hallways in Bates’ Schaeffer Theatre.
“The Black Box Theatre is used for makeup, and there are dressing rooms all over. used a whole box of Christmas bows to line the hallways. So the answer to frantic cries of ‘Where do go?’ were always answered calmly with ‘Follow the bows.’ This became a mantra for the cast.”
She’s also on the lookout for:
• Forgotten items. “When something is left behind in a dressing room, have running shoes, but ‘m not a runner, so sometimes by the time get back that dancer is already on stage.” One year, the Chinese dragon forgot a shoe and, as Edith was running to get it, she found out the dragon was also missing two members.
“The dragon went onstage barefoot and ‘sans two.'”
• njured or sick dancers. “Dancers are always getting injured and will go out there and put on an amazing performance.” But she has to be ready on the spot for another dancer, which can mean refitting a costume for the replacement.
• Snowstorms. “There is always the worry, will everyone show up?” Edith knocks on the wooden table at the coffee shop where we met. So far, she has not had to use her potential fill-in strategy of calling on a former “Nutcracker” dancer from the audience.
Wary of tiaras
Dressing rooms are set up by age or experience: adult men in one room, teenage boys and principals in another, principal females, corps de ballet, older girl dancers and then the younger dancers are mixed.
“Costumes are set up in the order that the dancer needs to put them on, so they can jump into the pants. Getting the new one on is the most important thing. Tiaras with netting invariably get ripped. We tell the dancers, ‘You work the headpiece, we’ll do the rest.'”
Sometimes costumes must be changed quickly.
One year the Snow King was also the Prince, so he had to wear a tunic under his costume. At the transformation, only his legs showed and the first costume pulled off to reveal the tunic. “We did it on the spot.”
“Another quick change was for my daughter Jaid. She was a mouse. The costume had a gazillion snaps. She had a dancer chasing her undoing snaps as she ran off one wing around the back and, by the time she got to the other side, she was in the new costume. Changing on the run. Fast!”
“There is really not a lot of conversation. will say, ‘Ribs up’ and that’s about it.”
Between acts, they pick up discarded costumes and touch up makeup.
“n the wings you have to have the steeliest nerves. Calm. Don’t let anything bother you. You work in the dark with a flashlight between your teeth. One of the most nerve-racking jobs is the quick-change dresser.
They do makeup assembly-line style. Someone does the eyeliner, another does the blush.
The backstage necessities include water since “it gets really hot.” They also include a stage kit with rosin, Band-Aids, tights, bobby pins and safety pins. “Sew if you can, if not pin it,” she said.
Mousy mice costumes
Planning for “Nutcracker” starts in the fall.
“n September, we decide if we need to get new costumes. would really like to see business sponsors donate money so the seamstresses could create new costumes for a dance. They would get recognition for sponsoring that piece. The mouse costumes badly need replacement. The ribbon costumes are the newest costumes. A mom made them three or four years ago. t is so much cheaper to make than to purchase.”
About two weeks after the ballet’s auditions, she usually receives a copy of the cast list.
“When see who is in what, we place the costume to the girl. Fitting, fitting, fitting.”
Recently, she was working on the kimonos for the dragon dance. ” quilt so do straight and circles. The seamstresses do amazing things. They are fabulous.”
She’s soon planning for activity in the wings, the quick changes, the exits and entrances.
“This time of the year, have rows of tutus hanging from the ceiling in my bedroom. They have to be hung so they are not crushed.”
“My list is usually here,” she said, pointing to her head. “As ‘Nutcracker’ gets closer, my hand is covered in indelible ink with reminders.”
Moms and other helpers are key to the ballet’s success. “We have awesome helpers. We are an all-volunteer staff.”
One woman with very high energy puts clothes on hangers and takes care of the little ones. “She gives them snacks and keeps them happy.”
A backstage ‘madhouse’
She calls costume storage the most difficult part of her job since it’s in “a very creepy basement!”
t’s also a lot of work to move all the costumes.
“The scariest moment is when we are packing everything up and think, ‘Please get everything so nothing is left behind!'”
All the hard work is offset by this “amazing family event” that “The Victorian Nutcracker” is. ” like the kids. ‘ve been backstage long enough that they all know me. They are all so talented. Many are at the top of their class, hold jobs … my goodness, it really is so inspiring!”
‘Nutcracker’ has many scenes, but Cherkis finds the mouse scene the most fun.
“The goal of the mice in this scene is to get everything off the stage. Backstage is a madhouse. Behind the stage everyone is yanking on sheets piled with presents that the mice keep tossing out. Then the snow comes and it is all over. t is so busy and lots of fun!”
Her own “costume” is far simpler than the bulky ones the mice wear: “Jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers or just socks. t gets really hot. A ponytail that usually ends up disheveled. Black or gray, that is techie gear. Tape. Scissors. have needles and thread stuck into my jeans.”
“This is how you would see me, with my arm out.”
She reaches out as if to shake someone’s hand. ” am ready to grab the next dancer that comes off stage to pull backstage.”
‘Gel and hair-spray queen’
Yet, with all her skills, “things never go as plan. keep strips of tape on my jeans, pens, and flashlight dangling. ‘ll say, ‘Follow me, run with me, let’s go!'”
Besidesvolunteering for the Portland Ballet, Cherkis works two jobs, delivering newspapers as an independent contractor for the Sun Journal and working at L.L. Bean. She attends college with an ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer, and she home-schooled her children. Three of her two sons and two daughters dance.
Cherkis got involved with “The Victorian Nutcracker” when her elder daughter, Cyra, began dancing with the Portland Ballet. Cherkis work as “a wing person” backstage and did such a good job she kept getting asked to take on more and more.
Cyra, also a college student, volunteers as a “techie,” doing makeup and running the left wing backstage. Cherkis says she can depend on Cyra so much that she herself can almost forget that side.
“Cyra is the gel and hair-spray queen. She runs around asking, ‘Who’s got wispies?’ Then she runs over and sprays the unsuspecting dancer. They get used to her.”
This season, younger daughter Jaid, 15, is an angel and a coda flower.
n addition to Jaid Cherkis, local dancers include Lewiston cast members Melina Plummer as Polichinelle and in the cavalry; Ashton Plummer, as a party child and captain of the battalion; Linnea Goodridge, a mouse; and Auburn cast member Tyler Sperry as the Snow Prince, Mr. Morse and Russian Trepak.
Edith Churchill is a freelance writer living in Auburn who frequently takes day trips with her family.
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